Finances Frustrate Humane Society

KISSIMMEE — Osceola Humane Society officials say cases of animal abuse are skyrocketing, but the society is running out of money to care for the animals and prosecute owners.

Society president Grace Keeler estimated 300 abused or neglected animals were confiscated in the past year. Next week, however, the society will lose its full-time abuse investigator, Pat Parchmann, because there is no money to pay the $250-a-week salary.

Mistreatment of animals is an emotion-charged issue, and how best to run the animal society has generated controversy for years.

The Humane Society says it has been unable to drum up monetary support from residents. Former members, however, are critical of the way the society is run, saying it made a bad financial move five years ago when it bought a downtown Kissimmee building for a bingo hall, instead of using the money to buy a kennel.

They say the society is not trying hard enough to attract attention to the plight of mistreated animals.

Not all veterinarians agree that abuse is as prevalent as Humane Society members insist. Dr. David

Andrix, a St. Cloud veterinarian who has done extensive work with the society, wouldn't define the animal injuries he sees as abuse.

''I've been here since 1973, and I doubt if I've seen three cases of abuse,'' he said. ''I couldn't say they were done on purpose. There have been neglect cases.''

Carol Dombrosky, an Osceola County animal control officer, said she believes most abuse reports are minor cases of neglect. Rarely does animal abuse in this county mean a starving or badly abused animal, she said.

Parchmann disagrees. ''People think we're sitting around having coffee and cookies and talking about doggies and kittens,'' Parchmann said. ''We're talking about dogs that have been deserted in homes, that will die if there was no humane society. This isn't a tea party.''

The society has photos of dogs so skinny that all their ribs show, cows with swollen eye injuries, ponies that died of starvation.

In Kissimmee, for example, an elderly couple owns a cow that is starving to death, Parchmann says. Humane Society officials have urged the couple to feed the animal and get it medical help, but little has been done.

Parchmann said she receives at least a call a day from someone who has spotted the cow and wants the society to confiscate the animal, but she said her hands are tied.

''It makes me sick every time we go out there,'' she said.

Members blame their inability to afford the costs of confiscating abused animals on the lack of support from the community. The society shut down its main source of revenue, a Broadway bingo hall, a month ago because of competition from a new, larger hall that opened this year on Vine Street.

The bingo hall, long the home of a fat, sleek cat called Tabby, is the site of a rummage sale on weekdays.

The Humane Society now pays $2,200 monthly for rent, salaries and a telephone. The building, assessed at $156,000, has appreciated by $6,000 in five years and is up for sale; the society has made half the payments on the structure.

Before the society bought the building for bingo, things were simpler, some former members say. Investigations were handled by volunteers and there was no rent to pay.

Past president Mary Neale said that under her leadership, ''everything was volunteer. Only the food for the animals cost money.''

Keeler said the agency still relies on volunteers, who keep stray animals in their homes and make calls to have the animals adopted.

She said the society has won six animal abuse cases in court during the past year. The society has a tough time prosecuting such cases, she said, because local veterinarians don't want to testify.

''They don't want to get involved'' because they could lose potential customers, Parchmann said. The society almost invariably asks for expert testimony from veterinarians outside the county, which also is costly, Keeler said.

Past and former society members believe there is a good deal of animal abuse in Osceola County. The most common problems are with horses, which are difficult to feed and which pick up a variety of parasites.

Some horse owners don't have enough money to take care of their animals properly, Andrix said. The most common problems with horses are parasites and a lack of adequate nutrition.

Andrix said actions such as seizing a horse causes confrontations, and the pet owner believes his rights are being infringed. The animal also may be suffering from health problems; it may not have been neglected at all. Often, by the time the case is dragged into court, ''it's really not worth it,'' he said.''

Humane Society members say their first step is to try to work with the owner. If that fails, the animal is seized. But there are risks. If an animal is so unhealthy that it may die anyway, the society does not confiscate it because of liability concerns.

Keeler said she is working to organize events in the coming months to fill the society's coffers, such as an auction and a ''bad man'' wrestling contest.